Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Cards such as credit cards, debit cards, driver's licenses and other identification cards, membership cards, gift cards, rewards cards, prepaid cards, and the like are currently undergoing a technological shift from the use of magnetic stripes, which are still widespread in the United States, toward contactless card technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communication (NFC). For example, Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) cards, which are currently used in many European nations, include integrated circuits, contact plates which may be placed in contact with readers inside payment terminals, and may include NFC circuits which engage in contactless card communications with NFC readers.
While EMV cards and other next generation contactless cards are relatively more secure than their magnetic stripe counterparts, contactless cards are nonetheless vulnerable to a variety of attacks. For example, some contactless cards transmit certain account holder information to nearby card readers “in the clear”, i.e., without encryption, and such information is vulnerable to so-called “skimming” attacks in which a card reader may be used to gain unauthorized access to account holder information. Contactless cards are also vulnerable to “relay” attacks, in which attackers relay communications between contactless cards and contactless card readers to engage in unauthorized transactions. In view of these and other vulnerabilities of contactless cards, there is a need for security technologies to protect contactless card holders and issuers from theft and fraud as contactless card use expands.